On last week's blog
we talked about how pro triathlete Joel
Jameson has made big strides forwards with his swimming by breathing to
his non-dominant side. We had a huge response to the post and we know a
lot of you have been experimenting with breathing to your 'bad' side to
great success.

If you have a strong preference to breathe to one
side when you swim, try one of our favourite drill sequences below.
It's a simple but powerful way to help you open up the 'bad' side of
your stroke and develop the timing of breathing to that side. We often
use this sequence in the Swim Smooth squads during a session warm-up.

Side Kick And Swim - With A Single Paddle

Wearing fins, grab a single paddle and place it on one hand - a conventional strapped paddle is fine but we like the Finis Freestyler for this purpose as it is arrow shape and the keel gives you feedback
on your alignment.

Push off and kick on your side with the
paddle on the lower hand outstretched in front of you. This is like our
conventional side kicking exercise (see here)
except you are wearing the paddle on the lead arm. Make sure you are at
90° on your side with your rear hand placed gently on your thigh.

As
you kick on your side think about keeping the lead arm aligned by
drawing your shoulder blades together and back, the arm should point
arrow-straight down the pool. Be particularly aware of this if you have a
crossover of the centre line in your stroke as it's likely to re-occur
whilst performing this drill:

Also
become aware of the angle of your hand, make sure the palm is facing
the bottom with a very slight downwards angle at the wrist. As always in
your stroke, elbow higher than wrist and wrist higher than fingertips:

Once
you get
the feel of this drill on both sides (swap the paddle to keep it on the
lead hand), perform it for 25m and immediately go into your full
freestyle stroke, breathing away from the paddle on every stroke. So if
you kicked on your right side with the paddle on your right hand go into
full freestyle but breathe only to your left side on every stroke.

Integrating Into A Set

Try swimming the drill in this 200m set, perfect for adding in to a warm-up:

Paddle on right hand: 25m kick on right side + 25m freestyle breathe leftPaddle on left hand: 25m kick on left side + 25m freestyle breathe rightRepeat twice through

How
does it feel breathing to your bad side? The drill should help you
rotate much better to that side and the paddle give you a greater
awareness of your catch whilst breathing.